trillion dollars of them into law in 2011. if republicans are willing to let the bush tax cuts for the rich expire as part of a larger framework, it's going to be not just a quiet christmas in washington, but a smooth one for the economy. i should say that we invited mr. norquist on the show e to explain why his pledge will hold, but he declined. so joining me now are two folks who have experience watching the pledge distort american politics and scotch many a deal. robert riech and now the president of the center for american progress, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> great to be with you. >> i want to begin with you, robert. does this feel different to you? pretty much the the first thing you guys did was propose a budget to reduce the deficit and it included a lot of tax increases and you didn't get one republican vote because of them. do you think republicans are cracking now? do you feel something different in the air? >> undoubtedly something different is in the air. it's called an election victory. but i will believe when i see it that republicans beginning to agree

, congress can pass a law that would prevent a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody's income. everybody's. even the wealthiest americans would still get a tax cut on the first $250,000 of their income. it's not like folks who make more than 250 aren't getting a tax break, they've getting a tax break on the first 250, just like everybody else. >> congressman cole first said this in a closed door meeting with republicans yesterday. he said basically exactly what president obama just said and he then expanded on his comments instead of denying them or refusing to comment at all, which he could have done. house speaker john boehner, who needs other loyal republicans to start talking sense to crazy tea party, he was outraged by his suggestion. >> you're not going to grow the economy if you raise tax rates on the top two rates. we're willing to put revenue on the table as long as we're not raising rates. >> but that didn't stop congressman cole from going on hardball today continuing to sell the idea of making peace with the president for the sake of 98% of american taxpayers. >> i

health care law. ♪ open enrollment ends december 7th. so now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. >>> now, she might be the president's choice to succeed hillary clinton. would you support her? >> i would be very hard pressed. >> if it were john kerry? >> he became within a whisper of being president of the united states. i think that works in his favor but, i would love to hear him make his case. but i don't have anything in his background like this tragedy in benghazi, that would make me really want to make me carefully examine the situation. >> if president obama nominating john kerry in stead of susan rice, massachusetts would hold a special election to fill kerry's seat, which provokes this question. >> would you be running again in the special election? >> there's no vacancy that i'm aware of and we'll see what happens. >> with elizabeth warren poised to be sworn in in january, today, the scott brown for senate campaign 2.0 got everything it could hope for from john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte after their meeting with ambassador rice. >> we are sign